Every art form has its holy grail, those elusive creations around which legends grow. For rock 'n' roll, The Beach Boys' album Smile heads that list. Work on the album began on the heels of the group's seminal Pet Sounds, when Brian Wilson teamed with Van Dyke Parks to make a 'musical story of America'. But the writing and recording process soon devolved into chaos, capsized by internal fighting and record business chicanery. Tantalizing bits of Smile - most notably 'Good Vibrations' - hit the airwaves, but the album, reviled by Beach Boys singer Mike Love as a document of 'Brian's madness', was shelved.
In Domenic Priore's new book, he interviews all the main players and documents every aspect of the Smile experience, from its inception in the 1960s to last year's release of Brian Wilson Presents Smile, his remarkable and brave attempt to finish what he started 40 years earlier. Featuring detailed accounts of studio work and the triumphant live shows in Europe and the US, exclusive photos from Smile-era photographer Guy Webster and forewords by Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Priore's book is the last word on perhaps the finest album ever recorded.